“The Qur’an and Islamic Law” presented by Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im, Emory Law School
Prof. An-Na’im will examine the historical nature and role of the Qur’an as the primary source of the normative system of Islam, in contrast to post-colonial emphasis on its role as the main “source” of “Islamic law”. Locating this analysis within his broader argument in favor of a secular state from an Islamic perspective, and against the enactment of Sharia as positive law of the state, Prof. An-Na’im views this recent development as undermining the religious and spiritual role of the Qur’an and inhibiting the necessarily dynamic nature of law.
Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na`im originally from Sudan, is Charles Howard Candler Professor of Law at Emory Law School. An internationally recognized scholar of Islam and human rights, and human rights in cross-cultural perspectives, Professor An-Na’im teaches courses in human rights, religion and human rights, Islamic law, and criminal law.
The Qur’an Seminar is sponsored by the College of Arts and Letters’ Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts, the Notre Dame Law School’s Program on Church, State, and Society, The Center for Civil and Human Rights, and the Mellon Foundation’s Sawyer Seminars.